


a dream I never gave up on

by helsinkibaby



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Community: comment_fic, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-09
Updated: 2014-12-09
Packaged: 2018-02-28 20:05:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2745317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They say gossip travels faster than light. And on a ship like this, I'm sure it travels faster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a dream I never gave up on

"So... you and Data."

Tasha couldn't keep her head from whipping around in shock, definitely couldn't keep her jaw from dropping and she was immensely relieved that not only were she and Geordi alone on the holodeck but that he couldn't see how ridiculous her reaction must have looked. She saw the way his lips twitched though, realised all too quickly that his VISOR still let him see a reaction, and from the heat on her cheeks, the thumping of her heart, the tremor of her hands, she was guessing that he saw plenty. 

"You know?" she managed. "How do you know?"

Geordi's shoulders rose and fell in an easy shrug.  "They say that gossip travels faster than light," he told her. "And on a ship like this, I'm fairly sure it travels faster."

Tasha couldn't help herself; she dropped her head into her hands and let out a low moan. She'd hoped against hope that no one had seen Data leaving her quarters, or that if they had, they hadn't put two and two together.  The thought of being fodder for the gossip mill was enough to turn her stomach; the fact that she was finding out about it from Geordi instead of someone else only made it slightly easier to handle. "I didn't want anyone to know..."

She felt Geordi move closer to her on the bench, felt his warm hand slide across her back, coming to rest on her shoulder. "You were infected, Tasha," he reminded her. "You're not the only one something like this happened to, you know."

Which she knew might be true, gossip channels working overtime as they were, but it wasn't making her feel any better. Lifting her head, she looked across at the gardens of Starfleet Academy, a holographic Boothby kneeling in front of his favourite rose bushes. In the two years they'd been at the Academy together, she and Geordi had spent many hours here, on this exact bench, and this holo program usually relaxed her, took her away from any problems she might have.  

Not today.

"I hate this feeling," she told him after a minute, knowing she could talk to him, be honest with him. "Like it was someone else taking over my body... I saw too much of that, growing up... how drugs, alcohol, could change people... I never wanted that to happen to me." 

Geordi squeezed her shoulder. "People know it wasn't like that," he told her again. "We all acted a little crazy."

There was a tone to his voice, something sad, something melancholy, that had her turning her head to look at him. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the tension in his jaw and she reached out, laid a hand on his knee, remembering the observation lounge, remembering other long ago talks on just that subject. "You were talking about wanting to see... really see."

He chuckled, but without any real humour. "Yeah. Still haven't given up on that dream." He shrugged again, looking right at her and in that moment she was back in the observation lounge, when his fingers had touched her skin for the first time in years. The memory made her shiver and if she didn't know how that movement registered with his VISOR, the tilt of his head, the frown of his forehead let her know that it had. 

Without thinking about it, she reached for his hands, took them in hers and moved them up to her cheeks. Softly, carefully, he traced the contours of her face just like he had on so many nights so long ago. Her eyes closed under his touch, real and remembered, and she knew with utter certainty that whatever she and Data had shared, it was a poor substitute for this. 

She opened her eyes when Geordi's hands moved from her face down her neck and across her shoulders, stilling there and coming to rest. "Is that..." She swallowed hard at the lump in her throat, forced it back. "Is that the only dream you haven't given up on?"

There was a part of her that couldn't believe she was actually asking him that. They've been over for a long time, and even when they were both assigned to the Enterprise, there had never been anything more to their communications than just friends. 

Then the last few days had happened, a virus stirring up a hornet's nest of hormones and memories and one touch had left her wanting so much more. 

When Geordi shook his head, it was the only answer she wanted. 

His actual whispered words - "There's one more" - were more than she'd ever dreamed of hearing.

The kiss that followed was perfect. 


End file.
